By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Cor 3:10-11
For over a year, we have been renovating my grandparents’ house which was built in 1943. We began with replacing windows, electrical and plumbing, while lurking underneath the house problems were brewing. As we began to uncover the original subfloor of the house, the problems became evident. Floorboards were rotten, cracked and disintegrating, but underneath the floor joists were also deteriorating. Our carpenter surmised some of the damage came from above, but in other places the damage started below and came to the surface.
Sometimes I approach my own spiritual life in the same way. i address those things I can see, but I fail to allow the Holy Spirit to plumb the depths and address those foundational issues in my soul. If I am committed to Jesus and committed to a life of missional discipleship, I must keep checking the foundation. However, I can’t always see the foundation problems myself. I need to be in community with others who are joining me as we follow Jesus.
We all need to examine our own foundations, and we all need spiritual friends we trust to speak into that examination. To help us draw closer to Jesus and follow the nudges of the Spirit to shore up that foundation.
~ excerpts from Brian’s article written for Wesleyan Accent
